The present invention relates to vehicle doors.
Conventional vehicles employ side door assemblies having openable windows requiring operating hardware which is known as the window regulator. The window and regulator generally occupy a large part of the limited space available within the door assembly. Additional hardware items also conventionally reside in a vehicle door and therefore, must be assembled into the door assembly with the window and regulator in a coordinated manner to avoid interference.
In such door assemblies the window, at its fore and aft sides adjacent its bottom edge, is generally slidably guided for movement through a pair of stationary guides or guide channels mounted within the door assembly. The guide channels engage the window as it moves between a fully open position, in which it is substantially disposed within the door assembly and a fully closed position, in which the majority of the window is located above the belt line of the door assembly.
The window is generally moved between its open and closed positions by a suitable window regulator mechanism. A commonly known type of window regulator is the cross-arm window regulator. This common window regulator is operatively connected to a sash channel which is mounted to the bottom edge of the window, thereby permitting the window regulator to effect raising and lowering movement of the window. The window regulator mechanism is typically manually or power operated.
A typical door system also includes interior and exterior handles and a door latch for releasably holding the door in a closed position. Both interior and exterior handles are linked to the latch mechanism to effect operation thereof. Interior and exterior lock actuators are also typically provided in the door system which are operatively linked to the latch or handles to selectively prevent the handles from releasing the latch assembly to an open position.
The art has adapted many of the conventional door system hardware components for mounting in an integrated modular assembly. The base for the module is typically comprised of metal or plastic and is designed to provide adequate support for the various hardware components.
In providing operable door assemblies, quality, reliability and costs are ever present concerns. Therefore, a continuous need exists to provide features that address these concerns for the various hardware components operating within a vehicle's door system.